The Replication Rate of Human Hematopoietic Stem Cells In VivoResearchers’ simulations provide evidence that the number of human hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) increases from birth until adolescence and then plateaus, and that the ratio of contributing to quiescent HSCs in man significantly differs from mouse. In addition, they suggest that human marrow failure, such as the marrow failure that occurs after umbilical cord blood transplantation and with aplastic anemia, results from insufficient numbers of early progenitor cells, and not the absence of HSCs. [Blood]

Tissue Engineering Methods Earn Funding to Heal Little HeartsTexas Children’s Hospital in Houston announced that a researcher in its Pediatric Cardiac Bioengineering Laboratory has earned a National Science Foundation Early Career Development (CAREER) Award for his work in studying the causes of congenital heart disease, heart defects, and the development of tissue engineering therapies using stem cells derived from human amniotic fluid. [EurekAlert!]

Stemedica Receives Approval from UCSD to Initiate Ischemic Stroke Study with Adult Allogeneic Stem CellsStemedica Cell Technologies, Inc., a leader in adult allogeneic stem cell manufacturing, research and development announced today that it has received IRB approval from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) to initiate a Stemedica clinical study entitled, “A Phase I/II, Multi-Center, Open-Label Study to Assess the Safety, Tolerability and Preliminary Efficacy of a Single Intravenous Dose of Allogeneic Mesenchymal Bone Marrow Cells to Subjects With Ischemic Stroke.” [Stemedica Cell Technologies, Inc. Press Release]